Thursday, 10 September 2015

Elephantitis?

Last week I was posting about elephant garlic. Today I spotted this exotic visitor in our garden:

A bit of internet searching and it is identified as an Elphant Hawk Moth Caterpillar. Pretty exotic, And the moths themselves are fairly dramatic. I'll have to keep an eyeout for them.

Also on the large size now is the Runner Bean stand. Cropping is two weeks in and some of them are whoppers.

Not large yet, but getting that way, the cucurbits. The yellow courgettes have been the star so far, but there are Butternut Squashes, Kabocha, and Sharks Fin Melon on the way.

And just for the record here's the leek patch. One of the areas without weed supressant fabric I'm rather pleased with the results of my hand weeding last weekend. In the foreground are potatoes, and beyond the leeks are drying bean Canadian Wonder, alongside the leeks a row of peas which will be ready to pick this weekend. The fruit cage behind is just about ready to have the nets off as soon as the last raspberries have been picked. It's been a great sof fruit year!

I always think those caterpillars look like elephants trunks, I wonder if that is why the mouth is so called. Our courgettes haven't been very good at all this year we have had enough to keep us going but no gluts which is very unusual.

Thanks for posting this, my husband spotted one in the garden the other day & popped it in a bucket for me to look at. I thought it was an Elephant Hawk moth caterpillar but wasn't 100% I am now though. It's a shame I haven't spotted any of the moths though but I'm thrilled that they've visited the garden. Your veg plot is looking very productive, I hope your shark's fin melon does well for you, it's something I've always wanted to grow but have struggled to find the seeds x